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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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Shelf. H,X.1 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



PRICE, TEN CiiNTS. 



leomargarine 

BOGUS BUTTER: 

ITS COMPOSITION, 

IMPURITIES, 

DANGERS, ' 

AND OBJECTIONS TO ITS USE ; 

METHODS OF DETECTING IT, &c. 

ILLUSTRATED. 



REV. EDWARD H U B E R, 

(Microscopist). 



Reprinted from "SOUTHERN CLINIC." 

[Copyright Secured.] 



mCHMOND i 

' Published Sy C. Av B R Y C E, M, D. 

Printed by Whittet «& ShepPErsoN, looi Main Street, eor, loth. 

188a 



OLEOMARGARINE 



OK 



BOGUS BUTTER: 



ITS COMPOSITION, 

IMPURITIES, 

DANGERS, 

AND OBJECTIONS TO ITS USE 

METHODS OF DETECTING- IT, &c. 

ILLUSTRATED. 



BY 

R E \'. EDWARD H U B E R. 

(Micboscopist). 



Reprinted from "SOUTHERN CLINIC." 

[Copyright Secured.] 



RICHMOND : 

PrBLisHED BY C. A. B Y K C E, M. D. 
1S80. 



OLEOMARGARINE 

vs. 
BUTTER 



The question of oleomargine has lately agitated the public 
mind to a considerable extent. The friends and manufac- 
turers of this artificial butter extol its merits to the clouds 
as being tlie greatest discovery and blessing of the century. 
One enthusiastic oleomargarine friend of mine even modestly 
compares its importance and its wonderful triumphs, in the 
face of so much opposition and persecution, to the blessings 
and triumphs of the Christian religion. On the other hand, 
dairymen denounce it as the worst imposition which could 
liave afflicted the patient and long suffering consumers, — 
and these certainly have suffered not a little from bad but- 
ter, especially in our large cities. As I would not trust such 
conflicting and contradictory statements, I called to my 
assistance an old and trusted friend, who had already given 
me true and reliable information in a great many instances 
when other means utterly failed — the microscope. 

The microscopical examination of butter and oleomar- 
garine is very easy and simple. A very small quantity of 
either is put on a glass slide, covered with a thin micro- 
scopical glass cover, and then pressed to a thin film. An 
amplification of 150 to 200 diameters will sufficiently show 
the leading characteristics of the two articles. My examina- 



tions were made on an old German Plossl stand, with a half- 
inch objective, and on a " Zentnia_yer's grand American 
stand," with a Tolles' quartei'-inch objective. During the 
last two years I have examined several hundred samples of 
oleomargarine and butter. While writing this paper, upon 
the suggestion of the Editor I examined fifty additional 
samples of butter, in order to lind out how much oleomar- 
garine was sold as butter. 

The difference between natural and artificial l>utte]' under 
the miscroscope is a most marked one, as every one can see who 




Oleomargarine magnified abont 200 diameters. 



will look at tlio two accomj^anying wood cuts. Oleomar- 
garine shows over the whole field featliery and stellate crys- 
tals which are never seen in genuine butter- [ did not find 
one single sample of oleomargarine i'vec from the-i . While 
not every field of the same preparation showed as many as 
our illustration, and some few fields were nearly free from 
them, others showed a great many more, besides a number 
of suspicious looking things: shreds of tissue, muscular fil)re, 
etc., giving a rather irregular api^earance to the whole, while 
the -appearance of natural butter is very regular, showing of 
foreign su])stances only the cubical crystals of common salt. 
In oleomargarine, the essential oil globules are of much less 
frequent occurrence than in butter, which consists almost' 
entirely of them. 



These feathery and stellate masses are margarine-crys- 
tals. They are formed by tlie separation of solid fat from 
the natural fatty masses of the body in the cooling of tlie 
latter after death. Some very high authorities look upon 
these crystals as the incipient stage of decomposition, while 
their continual presence in oleomargarine, and their total ab- 
sence in butter, show conclusively that there is an important 




Natural butter magnified about 200 diameters. 

diiference between the two articles, and that the fat of na- 
tural butter is a different thing from that of oleomargarine. 

This is also corroborated by the practical experience of 
our house-keepers, who find oleomargarine entirely unsuited 
for cooking purposes. 

I entertain no prejudice whatever against this new article 
of food, but would be very glad to find it what its manufac- 
turers and friends claim it to be — a real substitute for butter — 
equal and indeed superior to the latter in every essential 
point. But upon examination I find that the claims and as- 
sertions of these men are very unreliable, and some of their 
statements evidently calculated to mislead the public in re- 
gard to the facts of this matter; and the brilliant array of 
scientific men whom they bring out as witnesses in their 
favor, does not alter my opinion in the least. For the sake 
of brevity I shall only notice two of these witnesses, from a 
• great number which I might mention, and which are all 
similar. Before me lies the circular of the Commercial 



Manufacturing Company of New Yt)ik, full of lecommen- 
dations of oleomargarine by eminent men. A prominent 
place is given to the statement of a niicroscopi.st, headed: 
"Oleomargarine Microscopically compared with Milk-Bntter, 
by Prof. J. W. S. Arnold, of the Univer.^ity of :Xew York, 
the highest authority in this country." There are five illus- 
trations by Prof. Arnold of the appearance of the two ar- 
ticles under the microscope. They are described as follows: 

"Figure one represents caulfat under the microscope, the 
crystalline nature and adi])Ose tissue being clearly seen, also 
a globule of oil.'' 

"Figure 2 represents oleomargarine before it is churned, 
or what is known as oleomargarine oil. It will be seen from 
this plate that oleomargarine before being churned is en- 
tirely in a crystalline condition." 

"Figure 3 represents natural butter first-melted, and then 
alloM-ed to cool slowly to a solid condition. The microscope 
shows the same crystallization as in oleomargarine oil, (fig- 
ure 2,) from which it in no way differs." 

" Figure 4 represents oleomargarine butter, and figure 5 
natural butter. It will be seen by examination of these two 
figures that they consist of an innumerable number of minute 
globules of varying size, and are identical in appearance and 
all other respects." 

Now in none of these plates is the least trace of margarine 
crystals which form such a marked characteristic of every 
sample of oleomargarine "which I have examined. Figures 
4 and 5 are tolerably good representations of butter, hnt not 
of oleoinargarme. In regard to figure 3 I have to say, that 
I have taken common lard, melted it, and while it slowly 
cooled to a solid condition its appearance was exactly that of 
figure 3 (f Prof Arnold's plates. On the next page of this 
circular are two further illustrations. Figure 6 shows the 
oleomargarine crystals in great number, and looks in every 
respect like our wood cut. It is a true representation of 
oleomargarine as it is sold in our markets, while figure 7 is 
nothing but a fancy sketch and gross exaggeration. Now 
the circular says, in regard to these two figures : 

" Our enemies, unable to obtain a reliable scientific con- 
demnation of olemargarine, resorted to an unknown ama- 
teur, who represents the product under the microscope as 
shown in figure 6, then they improved upon the same as per 
figure 7. Compare these with Prof. Arnold's, and comment is 
unnecessary." 



Coininent certainly is unnecessary, when to every one, who 
lias looked at only a few samples of oleomargarine under 
the microscope, it is clear, that the only true representation 
of this article is that of this so-called " unknown amateur. " 

In the Baltimore Simday Neivs, of March 28, 1880, ic an 
article on "Oleomargarine," by Prof. Yander Weyde, M. 
D., editor of the Practical A7ne7ncan, and professor of 
chemistry in the U. S. Medical College, New York. After 
comparing butter and oleomargarine, in which comparison 
the latter is, of course, very superior to the former in every 
respect, the gentleman goes on to say : 

"Let us now see what science teaches about it! Firstly, 
by the microscope we cannot detect any difference whatever, 
and we challenge any raicroscopist to distinguisli in two 
samples which is which. In regard to a sensational illustra- 
tion given by a certain John Michels {in M'liich the appear- 
ance of oleomargarine under the microscope is given and 
largely published by the? dealers in dairy butter, as contorted 
crystals or organisms, while that of dairy-butter is repre- 
sented as consisting of perfectly round fiat globules,) we 
have only to say, that we have prepared microscopic slides 
from fresh oleomargarine, and from old dairy-butter, and 
that the appearance is just the other way, — the oleomarga- 
rine presents the perfect round fat globules, while the dairy- 
butter shows the irregular shapes, and with some manipula- 
tion may show the same fanciful appearances as are figure<:l by 
Michels as belonging to oleomargarine." 

I wonder who furnished the samples and prepared them 
for the professor. As far as my experience goes I find this 
much abused Dr. Michels, (who is the unknown amateur,) 
perfectly correct in regard to the microscopic appearance of 
butter and oleomargarine. 1 found the margarine crystals 
in the very best of oleomargarine samples, and not a trace 
of them in the very oldest of dairy butter; and of this latter 
I have examined some very venerable boarding house sam- 
ples, containing a great many things which are not very 
desirable in butter. 

Prof. Yander Weyde says further: "The <;)lcomargarine 
manufacturers have claimed before a government committee 
that their product is jjure aad wholesome in itself^ and a. 
Jit substitute for butter. We tliink they ought to go a step 
farther and maintain that it is butter, and nothing else, 
only made l>y an improved process. In place of relying upon 
the cow to secrete its fat into tlie milk, and tlicn depriving 



8 

tlic calf of its niitiiral food by inilkini^- tlio cow and aUstract- 
ino- the fat fi'oni the milk by chnrniiio- jt, tlioy now take the 
fat directly when the cattle are slannhtered, and instead of 
usino- all this fresh fat foi- soap-nuiking, etc., for which nmcli 
of it is too li'ood, they change it into butter, which is perfectly 
identical with butter made from milk " 

Oleomargarine made according to the original Mcge pro- 
cess from pure caul fat, and as described in a recent mnnber 
of the Scientijic American^ certainly does not contain any- 
thing injurious to health. It will also do very well where 
natural butter of a proper quality cannot be had ; but to 
maintain that it is hitter, made by an improvement upon the 
natural process, etc., is just as absurd as the assertion that an 
artificial leg was is a real leg, only an improvement upon the 
natural one, as it is not liable to rheumatism, gout, corns, 
etc. Oleomargarine may have some similar qualities su- 
perior to natural butter, — you find, for instance, no hairs in 
it — but it will never be natural l)ntj:er. 

The assertion that it is impossible to distinguish oleomar- 
garine from genuine butter, is simply ridiculous. It is hard 
to conceive how Profs. Arnold and Vander Wej'de, as pro- 
fessional nucroscopists, can make such statements. The only 
charitable explanation which occurs to me, is, that they exam- 
ined sam[)les sent to them by the oleomargarine manntactnr- 
ers, which had previously been manipulated for this special 
purpose. Had they gathei'ed their samples from the markets 
and groceries, just as the article is sold, the result certainly 
woidd have l)een quite a tiift'erent one. 

But it does not even take a microscope to distinguish be- 
tween the articles in question. I showed a mixed lot of about 
twenty -five buttei- and oleomargarine samples to some ladies, 
Yjractical housekeepers, to tell which was which. With two 
exceptions, where they were doubtful, their indications were 
correct. These two samples consisted of very inferior 
country l)utter, which they thought might be oleomargarine. 

Some oleomargarine manufacturers recently invited a con- 
gressional committee to a banquet, at M'hich about two hun- 
dred city farmers were present. The New York Times re- 
ports that, after drinking about six hundred bottles of wine, 
the company was unable to distinguish between butter and 
oleomargarine. Some of these city grangers may even have 
been unable to tell the sun from the moon after looking 
through so many bottles. Any half dozen practical, sen- 



9 

sible ladies would have been of infinitely greater value in 
deciding this matter. 

Tlie chief objection to oleomargarine lies in the fact, tha t 
in the process of manufacturing, the fat is never subjecte d 
to a greater heat than 124° F. Now it is a fact well-know n 
to biologists that certain septic organisms will endure a much 
greater heat than this before they are killed and made harm- 
less. 

The Rev. Dallinger, of England, the first authority in this 
field, has, by a series of beautiful experiments, shown that 
germs of some putrefactive organisms require at least 212 to 
235° F. for their destruction. Oleomargarine is a very as- 
sailable article in this respect, and may on this account be- 
come the cause of serious disease. My grocer, a very en- 
thusiastic oleomargarine friend, by the way, tells me that 
during hot weatlier he cannot keep the article for this very 
reason. 

Another very serious objection is the fact that the oleo- 
margarine in our markets at present is to a very great ex- 
tent adulterated, as already said. Pure oleomargarine, made 
according to the Mege process, does not contain anything 
objectionable or detrimental to health, although it is no but- 
ter. But some of these manufacturers, who are so unscru- 
pulous as to mislead the public by erroneous and ^vilf ully false 
statements, will also use in the manufacture of this artificial 
butter tat which is entirely unfit for human food. This is 
a fact clearly demonstrated by the microscope. I have seen 
crystals of urate of magnesia in different samples, a fact to 
which Dr. Taylor, the microscopist of tlie agricultural depart- 
ment in Washington has some time ago called atten- 
tion. Other samples, judging from the peculiar stellate 
shaped crystals, apparently contain a great deal of lard.. 

The gentleman who had the first agency for oleomarga- 
rine in this city tells us that the article at first was of very 
■good quality, but after some time it grew so bad that he 
gave it up in disgust. Adulteration of the most necessary 
articles of daily food has in our times become a most seri- 
ous question. It has long engaged the best scientific and 
legislative talent of Europe. The necessity of some pro- 
tection in this respect seems also at last to have dawned upon 
our American people. A pretty fable, circulating in the 
German papers some years ago, might be transfei'red to our 
soil without losing anything of its spicy truth : " Once 
upon a time four flies went abroad, and fin all}' alighted in 



10 

a beautiful kitchen. The tirst one spied some cake dough, 
of whicli it partook. But the alum in the baking powder 
did not agree with the tly, and it pined away and died. 
The second fly, cautioned by the fate of its unfortu- 
nate companion, avoided cake dough, and refreshed itself 
from the sediments of a cup of coffee. But there was too 
much oxide of copper in it, and the fly's constitution was 
hopelessly shattered. The third, frightened by the sad ter- 
mination of tlie career of its mates, concluded to shun sweet 
things, and keep itself to meats So it ate heartily of a 
beautiful piece of red sausage; but this hashy article had 
been colored with arsenic, and the poor fly died even more 
quickly than its comrades. The foui-th fly was a sly, know- 
ing insect. It avoided everything, however tempting it 
looked, until it discovered a wet piece of paper in a sludlow 
vessel, on which was printed 'fly poison.' This the fly se- 
lected^as its pasture, and there continued to live and thrive 
in good health; for it was just as it suspected, the fly poison 
was also adulterated." 

Having stated the objections against artificial butter I 
deem it but just to refute some erroneous statements of 
scientists which have been used by dairy men against oleo- 
margarine. The first is, that according to the original pro- 
cess, the stomachs of pigs and sheep are finely chopped and 
mixed with oleomargarine on account of the pepsin which 
they contain, and that in this way trichinae and the eggs of 
difterent kinds of tapeworm may be introduced into the hu- 
man body. In regard to trichinae the fear is entirely un- 
founded. Experiments which I have made on rats, — the 
results of which I have promised the Editor to publish at 
some future time in his journal — lead me to the conclusion 
that intestinal trichinae given to healthy animals will never 
cause any symptom of trichinosis. It is only in the encysted 
state when eaten witli raw or only half boiled ham that this 
worm becomes dangerous. A great manj^ similar expei'i- 
ments in Germany and France corroborate this ; and as the 
encysted trichinae are never found in fat, but only in the 
muscles, there is no danger of their being introduced into 
the oleomargarine and eventually into the human body. 

In the German Grocer I see a statement by Dr. Piper, of 
Chicago, that lie lias seen the eggs of tapeworms in oleomar- 
garine. Any one wlio is acquainted with the natural history 
of these eutozoa will be slow in receiving this as a fact. 
The tapeworms do not take their abode in the stomach, but 



11 

in the lower intestines. From here the fruitful portions, 
bearing an immense number of eggs, are separated from the 
liead from time to time and carried off with the excrements. 
These eggs, which can endure any inclemency of climate, 
sometimes b}^ accident in exposed localities w^ill cling to 
plants, etc., and in this way be introdcced again into the 
stomach of other animals or men, where they will develop 
into the intermediate stage of cysticerci. By eating lettuce, 
strawberries, etc., which have not been well washed, we 
run a much greater risk of becoming infested by these pla- 
guey parasites, than by eating oleomargarine. The most 
dangerous of these entozoa is the taenia echinococcus, a very 
small worm, consisting only of three segments. It lives in its 
mature state in the dog. Countless millions of eggs are thrown 
out with the exci'eraents of the infested animal. Some of 
these eggs are swallowed by other animals, in whose stomachs 
the embryos are quickly developed. Boring through the 
intestines they lodge in different portions of the body, where 
they develop into the so-called echinococci, wdiole colonies 
of which become enveloped in hydatid vesicles. • The liver 
seems to be the favorite organ which is attacked by these 
echinococci. Vesicles as large as a small child's head are 
sometimes formed there. 

On the island of Iceland this taenia causes 15 to 20 per- 
cent, of all the deaths which occur there among cattle and 
men. The so-called liver disease has become a terrible 
scourge on this island. The cause of this lies in the habit 
of these islanders living close together with their large 
packs of dogs. The dogs feeding on offal of slaughtered 
cattle infested with echinococci, or which have died from this 
disease become in their turn infested with the corresponding 
taenia. The echinococci develop in their intestines into the 
true tape-worm, and the cycle of transformation is finished 
and ready to commence anew. Now it is scarcelv possible 
that eggs of this taenia will ever find their way info fat used 
for artificial butter. But such fat may contain the interme- 
diate stage of the tape-worm, the echinococci, M'hich would 
not be killed by 124° F., and introduced into the stomach of 
men will there develop into tape-worms. The long tape- 
worm M-hich inhabits the intestines of men lives in its inter- 
mediate stage in the hog. And as lard, notwithstanding the 
solemn declarations of oleomargarine manufacturers, seems 
to be used in their factories, there may also be a possibility 



12 

of introducing this tape-worm into the Innnan system; l)ut 
I think the danger not very great. From this we see: 

1. That oleomargarine, when made according to the 
original Mege process from pure, clear fat contains nothing- 
injurious or objectionable. But it is no l)uttcr. In its 
microscopical appearance, as well as in its nutritive and 
dietetic qualities, it differs materially from natural butter. 

2. The main objection to oleomargarine lies in the fact 
that the fat is not subjected to a heat sufficient to destroy 
the germs of septic and putrefactive organisms. 

3. It is extensively adulterated. Lai-d and impure fats 
are used in its manufacture. If such fat comes from diseased 
animals it is all the more dangerous for the reason just stated. 

4. There is no danger of trichinae or of eggs of tapeworms 
being introduced through oleomargarine into the human 
system. But there may be introduced the echinococci which 
develop into tapeworms. 

',i A short notice of the more prevalent adulterations of but- 
ter may not be out of place here. To increase the weight 
it seems some dairymen mix their butter with soda, alum or 
potash. This may easily be detected by the taste. 

A more harmless adulteration consists in mixiuar u'enuine 
butter with lard, wheat flour and boiled, finely crushed 
potatoes. Butter charged with flour and mashed potatoes 
will show the well defined starch granules under a ].>ower of 
about 400 diameters. Treated with iodine they will turn 
blue. At Dresden in Saxony, the health officers confiscated 
a large quantity of cheap butter whicli had been quite ex- 
tensively sold there under the name of "water butter." An 
examination of this article showed, that only a small per- 
centage consisted of genuine butter, while the bulk was 
nothing else but silica, chemically turned into jelly, flavored 
and colored. Good butter, under the microscope, will sliow 
nothing but oil-globules and the cubical crystals of salt. 

When oleomargarine was first introduced here, it was 
generally passed off as genuine butter, under the name of 
northern or New York butter. But at present I do not 
think that there is a great deal of this article sold for natural 
butter, owing to the general agitation against oleomargarine, 
and then it is also difficult to deceive a practised eye. Of 
fifty sauiples of butter, which the editor and myself col- 
.lected from the different portions of the city, only five were 
found to l)e oleomargarine. In collecting these samples it 
was always expressly stated that genuine butter was wanted. 



13 

Honest dealers, of course, will never deceive their customers, 
and always sell their articles for what they really are. 

In these examinations I found polarized light extremely 
useful. Some foreign substances, especially crystalized im- 
purities of fat are brought out beautifully under the pola- 
riscope — much more Deautilul than healthful. The marga- 
rine crystals themselves form a beautiful object for the pola- 
riscope, while genuine butter will remain neutral, not show- 
ing any colors. The oil-globules in genuine butter in our 
illustration ought to be a little more regular in their shape, 
(being perfectly round), but that is, I suppose, the fault of 
my drawing. The sample from which the drawing was 
made was not a very rich one. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



The gentlemen whose cards appear below assert that thej' do not 
handle oleomargarine, and that they may be relied upon for the parity of 
their butters. 



CHARLES E. MILLER. 
Tea, Coffee, Spices, Fine Family Gro- 
ceries, &c., &c. 
310 Broad St., Richmond, Va. 



MARTIN OETERS, 
General Provision Dealer, 
West End Market, 
Cor. Cary and Laurel Sts., 

Richmond, Va. 



PRIDDY & TAYLOR, 

Dealers in Fine Family Groceries, &c. 

Butter a Specialty. 

717 E. Broad St., Richmond, Va. 

E. R. LOVENSTEIN, 

Fancy and Family Grocer and Com 

mission Merchant, 

606 Broad Street, bet. 6th and 7th, 

Richmond, Va. 

ROBERT E. ENGLISH, 
GROCER, 

541 N. 2d, cor. Leigh, Richmond, Va. 



WILLIAM H. TATUM, 

Dealer in Fine Family Groceries, 
514 Broad St., Richmond, Va. 



B. T. ARCHER & CO., 

(Successors to Archer & Booker) 

GROCERS, 

Importers of Fine Wines, Liquoi'S, 

and Cigars, 

Cor. 8th and Main, Richmond, Va. 



WALKE & TAYLOR, 
Dealers in Staple and Fancy Gro- 
ceries, Wines, Liquors, ttc, 
No. 602 Broad St., Richmond, Va. 
Consignments of Country Produce 
solicited. 



J. W. ELSOM, 

107 East Main Street. 

Dealer in Choice Fresh Meats, Fish, 

Vegetables, Eggs, Butter, Canned 

Fruits, Pickles, &c., &c. 



DR. ATKINSON'S CLINICAL LECTX'RES 

ON 

SKIN DISEASES. 

In the May No. of SoHthern. Ollnio, will be forwarded to any address for 
15 cents. Address, 

C. A. BRYCE, M. D.. 
506 N. Second St., Richmond, Va. 



A. H. ROBINS, 



DEALER IX 



Pure Drugs, Medicines, 

Chemicals, &c. 

I:. Prescriptions carefully compounded. 
523 North Second Street, 
Richmond, Va. 



STAR OF THE SOUTH BARBER 
SHOP, 308 West Broad Street. 

By A. P. JOHNSON, the first-dass 
hair cutter of the South. 

Shaving and hair cutting, . . 25e. 

Shaving, 10c. 

Hair cutting, 20c. 

Shampooing, 20c. 

Ladies and children waited on at 

their residences at the shortest notice. 



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